xii POLITICAL LIFE 303 



should collect a series of samples, and report on the 

 question. In his report, delivered on May 2Oth, 1904, 

 he states that out of 287 samples of air collected from 

 thirty weaving sheds, 282 complied with the higher 

 standard, whilst the worst result recorded was 10*1 

 instead of 9 per 10,000 of air. Hence it appears that 

 with proper ventilation appliances the air of the weaving 

 sheds can be maintained satisfactorily within the limits 

 determined by the committee of which I was chairman. 

 About this time (1889) I was appointed chemical 

 adviser to the Metropolitan Board of Works, which 

 was then nearly moribund. I was called in to advise 

 as to the methods for improving the condition of the 

 Thames, which, owing to the high summer tempera- 

 ture and loss of fresh water, had become very foul. 

 The matter was of immense difficulty, comparable, 

 indeed, with the labours of Hercules in cleansing the 

 Augean stables. Complaints of sewage smells were 

 numerous and constant from all parts of the metropolis, 

 and no less than ; 100,000 had been spent in the 

 previous year by the Board in endeavouring to stop 

 these complaints by the addition of a very powerful 

 though very expensive oxidising agent, namely, man- 

 ganate of soda. This, however, I found was only a 

 sop to Cerberus, as the quantity of the material added 

 was altogether insufficient to effect any permanent 

 purification. I put a stop to this lavish expenditure, 

 and took measures to improve the ventilation of the 

 local sewers and to attack the question of purification 

 at the outfalls on both sides of the river. It was 

 evident to me that no immediate cure for the evil was 

 possible, and that only palliative measures could for 

 the moment be attempted, and I carried out these to 

 the best of my ability. It was clear that a system of 

 treatment of the whole sewage, before it was allowed 



